It has heretofore been proposed to provide a dual-chamber container by extrusion blow molding separate container sections and then securing the sections to each other to form a unitary container assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,391 is exemplary of this technology.
A dual-chamber container in accordance with one aspect of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention includes a hollow body having a perpherial sidewall, a closed bottom and a dividing wall or web extending through the body. A container finish is integrally molded to the body, and has a deck with a rim coupled to the peripheral sidewall and a pair of spaced outlet openings. The dividing wall of the container body is molded to an underside of the deck between the outlet openings. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an annular wall extends from the deck around each of the outlet openings for receipt of plug seals on a closure secured to the finish. The preferred embodiment of the invention also includes a radial bead around the finish for snap-receipt of a closure on the finish. An outer ring extends axially from a peripheral edge of the deck in a direction opposite from the sidewall, and a lip extends radially outwardly from the ring at the end of the ring spaced from the deck. The deck, annular wall and ring preferably have identical wall thicknesses for enhanced control of material shrinkage and reducing manufacturing cycle time due to improved cooling of the molded part.
A dual-chamber closure and container package in accordance with another aspect of the invention includes a container having a hollow body with a peripheral sidewall, a closed bottom and a dividing wall extending through the body. A container finish is integrally molded to the body, and has a deck with a rim coupled to the peripheral wall of the container body and a pair of spaced outlet openings in registry with the respective chambers defined by the dividing wall. The dividing wall or web is integrally molded to the underside of the deck between the outlet openings. A closure is secured to the container finish, and has dispensing openings surrounded by annular walls in plug sealing engagement with the outlet openings in the container deck. The closure preferably is secured to the container by respective radial beads in snap-fit engagement with each other.
A method of making a one-piece dual-chamber plastic container in accordance with a further aspect of the invention includes injection molding the container finish having a deck and a pair of spaced outlet openings in the deck. A tubular body is extruded from the finish having a peripheral wall and a central web extending from the deck between the openings and dividing the body into separate chambers in registry with the outlet openings in the deck. The tubular body is captured between opposed mold segments, and the peripheral wall is blown to the confines of the mold segments by application of air to the chambers through the outlet openings. The container is then removed from the mold segments. Injection molding of the container finish is preferably carried out in finish injection mold tooling, and the finish preferably includes an annular ring extending axially from the deck and a lip extending radially outwardly from the ring for helping to retain the finish in the finish mold tooling as the tube is extruded from the finish. The deck, the annular walls on the deck that define the outlet openings and the annular ring that surrounds the deck preferably have identical wall thicknesses for improving control of material shrinkage and reducing cycle time due to better cooling of the container as molded.